For the frosting

Method

Heat the oven to 180C/fan160C/gas 4. Oil and line the base and sides of an 18cm square cake tin with baking parchment.

Tip the sugar, oil and eggs into a large mixing bowl. Lightly mix with a wooden spoon. Stir in the grated carrots, raisins and orange rind.

Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices into the bowl. Mix everything together, the mixture will be soft and almost runny.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40-45 minutes or until it feels firm and springy when you press it in the centre. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn it out, peel off the paper and cool on a wire rack. (You can freeze the cake at this point if you want to serve it at a later date.)

Beat the frosting ingredients in a small bowl until smooth – you want the icing about as runny as single cream. Put the cake on a serving plate and boldly drizzle the icing back and forth in diagonal lines over the top, letting it drip down the sides.

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Comments, questions and tips

Shortened the cooking time because my square tin is a bit bigger. This made a lovely birthday cake (which needed to be dairy free).

Sadsuzie

11th Jul, 2017

5.05

Great recipe, one of the better carrot cake recipes I have used. Took advice from others about reducing the amount of oil resulting in the fact that it did not taste in the least oily. Used an 8" round tin as it suited the purpose better, baked for just on 35 minutes. Will definitely make again and consider using half carrot half courgette as we always get a glut of those.

hazelsk89

27th Jun, 2017

5.05

Fantastic as cupcakes, doubled up easily as well and worked when made gluten free and vegan using bananas instead of eggs. Loved the icing too!

rachael--h

28th Feb, 2017

5.05

This is an excellent recipe if you're gluten or lactose free or FODMAP. It works very well with GF flour (I add a little extra baking soda) and I use Flora Cuisine instead of the oil just as a preference. I also exchange the raisins for blueberries added at the end to make it FODMAP friendly and replace half the sugar with passion fruit syrup. I also add some ground ginger. All this makes the best gluten and lactose free cake I've made! T hanks for this fantastic recipe!

jacklyns

20th Feb, 2017

5.05

I've baked this many times, and it's been superb every time. The best bit is, that since it uses vegetable oil, it's perfect for those who might be lactose intolerant. Rate it five stars and more!

bodka72

19th Feb, 2017

5.05

Delicious, moist, light cake. I only had 20cm x 20cm tin and it worked ok. I loved the spices but wasn't so keen on the raisins. (next time I will leave them out). Definitely worth baking! One of mine "must bake again" recipe.

Pawprintbaker

16th Feb, 2017

5.05

Lovely cake- I reduced the oil to about 100/125ml and used cream cheese frosting topped with walnuts and it both looked and tasted great!

monsieur

20th Jan, 2017

5.05

I can only agree with all the other comments - its a wonderful cake. Loving walnuts I did put some in and only used a tiny amount of icing to drizzle but it was still great. Thank you.

Decadancy

11th Dec, 2016

Thank you for the recipe. The cake was simply delicious when I added cream cheese frosting. Love the cinnamon and nutmeg! Although it did not rise much, the texture is brilliant.

selmafelice

25th Nov, 2016

5.05

Wonderful recipe! Perfect combination of spices! I baked those in cupcake liners and it worked quite well.

Pages

Hi I have made this cake twice with great results, and I was wondering how many cupcakes it will make as I am planning to do cupcakes.
Thanks a lot

goodfoodteam

18th Feb, 2017

Thanks for your question. We haven't tested this recipe in cupcake form so can only estimate at around 12. You'll need to adjust the cooking times to 15 - 20 mins. For more precise instructions, why not have a go at our Carrot & cream cheese cupcakes. You can always change the frosting to this one if you prefer.
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/470640/carrot-and-cream-cheese-cupcakes

CatharineE

22nd Oct, 2016

Wondering what I did wrong, after all the positive posts it must be my error!
The cooking time was a lot longer as although the scewer came out clean I could see it wasn't cooked. I used a loaf tin instead of the square tin the recipe tells you to use. Do you think this could have been the problem?
Many thanks

goodfoodteam

1st Nov, 2016

Hi Catherine, thanks for your question. Yes, switching the tin size and shape will definitely affect the cooking time. We have tested the recipe with the size provided and can confirm it works using the 18cm square tin.

Estell

23rd Jul, 2016

I made this recipe and it's very tasty! The only problem is that the raisins have all sunk to the bottom - why would that be?

goodfoodteam

16th Aug, 2016

We're sorry to hear your raisins headed to the bottom. Some dried fruits can be a little oily. One way of countering this is to take a spoon of flour from the the 175g and toss the raisins in it. This will help to keep them suspended within the cake. That should do the trick. Many thanks.

saude

28th Jun, 2016

This recipe looks great! Does anyone know if this cake freezes well? If so, when defrosted is it as good/tasty or too moist? Thanks!

Nyh

21st Feb, 2016

How much walnuts can we add to this recipe? I love nuts in my carrot cake. Thanks

goodfoodteam

28th Apr, 2016

Try adding 85g/3oz walnuts to start with.

Emmy2015

10th Oct, 2015

Can I use instead a deeper and shorter tin instead? That's because I have a taller silicon cake tin, is it suitable as well?

Pages

I have been using this recipe for quite some time as the basis for large muffins, this recipe will make 8 cafe-sized muffins. Really tasty recipe, but I would cut down on the oil, about 110-115ml is plenty. There is sufficient rising agent to increase the fruit content but care should be taken that too much will lead to poor temperature conduction. Similarly you can increase the number of carrots, I have successfully used up to 4 carrots including large ones. Don't over-stir though as they will break down thereby raising the liquid content

nobbynorris

10th Apr, 2015

5.05

To really give this fantastic recipe some zing, don't use water with the icing sugar mix. Instead grate the zest of 4 limes. Squeeze the limes in to a bowl and use the juice to mix the icing (about 10 tsp) to the mix. Then sprinkle the grated zest on top for decoration. The sugar takes the bite out of the bitterness. This added to the orange in the cake makes a really fresh, zingy taste.

poshcakes

18th Sep, 2014

This works really well with Gluten Free flour instead. My favourite!

hoimen

7th Mar, 2014

I used the mascarpone and lime to made the frosting. Still yummy,and fresher!

jessieevee

28th Jan, 2014

Made this the other day, but with a couple of tiny tweaks. I used 160g light muscovado sugar and added a handful of chopped walnuts to the wet batter.
Baking time was only about 30-40 minutes. I kept checking with a cake thermometer. when it was about to reach the 30 minute mark.
All in all, recipe is quite good. Just like how my mum used to make. I skipped the frosting as eating it in itself is already a treat.

kupoqueen

26th Oct, 2013

Best carrot cake I have ever had :)
Although, I find that you don't need as much icing sugar as the recipe states to just drizzle over the top as the picture shows. I also made the cake another time with the typical creamy topping from another goodfood carrot cake recipe (Carrot & cream cheese cupcakes), which made it even more delicious and indulgent.
Hope to try it with nuts added next time

dee2dum

10th Jul, 2013

Made this last night for work as a Gluten and Lactose free cake (variety of dietary issues in my office!). The girls LOVED it. I used Dove's Farm gluten free flour, and about a tablespoon of orange juice - gluten free flour always absorbs more water. Worked like a dream.

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